Parents of pre-school children attending the weekly “Wednesday Mums” session at the church benefitted from a presentation last week about young children and screen time. The session informed parents of best practice to keep their children safe online and how to make the best use of the resources available. Tips were given and both print and online sources of help resources highlighted.
Sue Howard, one of the organisers and a mother herself, said: ” It was so interesting, not just the key messages around being aware of what your child is accessing online but we as parents setting an example for our children to follow.”
The session was delivered by Kathy Smedley, Education Technology Consultant.
Kathy talked about additional methods of Parental Controls available (not just from Broadband providers) but also from devices (iPads/PC’s/notebooks etc) as well as the various sites children often access (like Google, YouTube etc) and how to lock devices so children can’t browse onto another site. Kathy also talked about older children and making sure they are accessing age-appropriate material and being more aware of social media platforms (esp. the terms and conditions of these platforms that not many people are aware of!).
The event was organised by the All Saints branch of the Mothers Union.
Two leaflets that were given out in the session can be downloaded here. Young children and screen time Keeping-Under-Fives-Safe-Online2
More information is available here:
Things to do with your child….
- Books and stories: https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=childrens+internet+safety
- Digi duck – online story : https://www.childnet.com/resources/digiduck-stories
- Useful resources to use with older children: https://beinternetlegends.withgoogle.com/en_uk/parents also look at https://www.bbc.com/ownit– online safety shorts aimed at KS2 pupils
- Create a family agreement – https://www.childnet.com/resources/family-agreement
Information for Parents on setting up Parental controls and managing access:https://www.internetmatters.org/parental-controls/ – this site has a comprehensive set of guides to set up the right controls and privacy settings on broadband networks, tablets, apps and sites
- Another site with tools for parents and carers – https://www.saferinternet.org.uk/advice-centre/parents-and-carers
- Youtube – Enabling restricted mode – discuss with older children’s to why this is necessaryhttps://support.google.com/youtube/answer/174084?hl=en-GB&ref_topic=7505892
- Guided Access – iPads – iPhones etc https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT202612 – also look at how you can use your control centre – https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT202769
- Set up parental controls on your Apple phone or tablet – https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201304 – you can always go to the Apple shop and ask for help and support with this.
- for other devices – see https://www.saferinternet.org.uk/advice-centre/parents-and-carers/parents-guide-technology/tablets or https://www.internetmatters.org/parental-controls/smartphones-and-other-devices/
- https://2simple.com/free-stuff/digital-parenting/?utm_source=blog&utm_medium=link%204&utm_campaign=DPG – Parenting in a digital world – a useful guide for all parents
- https://www.allsaintswokingham.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/The-Ultimate-Parent-Guide-for-Protecting-Your-Child-on-the-Internet.html – a helpful blog and useful guide for all parents/teachers
Apps and social media
For older children … Keep informed. Guides to social media platforms https://www.net-aware.org.uk/
UK Safer Internet Centre: www.saferinternet.org.uk/advice-centre/social-media-guides
Advice on apps from Internet Matters: www.internetmatters.org/advice/appsguide
Games
Advice on games and how to check if they are appropriate for your child:
www.commonsensemedia.org/reviews
